Upanishads · Mahā 4.21
॥
Devanāgarī
नाकर्मसु नियोक्तव्यं नानार्येण सहावसेत् द्रष्टव्यः सर्वसंहर्ता न मृत्युरवहेलया
Transliteration (IAST)
nākarmasu niyoktavyaṃ nānāryeṇa sahāvaset draṣṭavyaḥ sarvasaṃhartā na mṛtyuravahelayā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न अकर्मसु नियोक्तव्यम्na akarmasu niyoktavyamone must not yoke oneself to wrong deeds; one should not set oneself to unfit occupations
न अनार्येण सह आवसेत्na anāryeṇa saha āvasetnor dwell with the ignoble; nor settle together with the base
द्रष्टव्यः सर्व-संहर्ताdraṣṭavyaḥ sarva-saṃhartāthe destroyer of all must be beheld; one must keep the ruiner of everything in view
न मृत्युः अवहेलयाna mṛtyuḥ avahelayādeath not treated with disdain; not with neglect toward death
Translation
“One must not yoke oneself to wrong deeds, nor live with the ignoble; and one must behold the destroyer of all — not treat death with disdain.”
Version
bb50be42b91f · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three rules, and the last is the most unexpected.
The first two are plain: not to take up the bad, not to live beside the base. The second is the reverse side of the fourth gatekeeper: if the company of the righteous frees, the company of others holds.
And the third runs: draṣṭavyaḥ sarva-saṃhartā — “the destroyer of all must be looked at”.
That is, death must be kept in the field of vision, not have the eyes averted from it. The word avahelā means “disdain, waving away”.
We wave death away not because we do not know of it, but because it hinders living as we live. The verse demands the opposite: to look.
The whole third chapter was such a looking, and we saw what it gave Nidāgha: not dejection, but a question. Hence this rule's place beside inquiry.